The Las Vegas Grand Prix brings cold graining, low grip, and a refreshed schedule into focus. This briefing answers the weekend’s key questions by breaking down how cooler, night-time conditions affect both track and car setup.
Welcome to The Briefing, where Google Cloud-powered insights come from trackside experts. Each week, we speak with one specialist to outline the biggest talking points and provide a streamlined guide for immediate action on race day. In this edition, ahead of FP1, we spoke with Cédric Michel-Grosjean.
Historically, teams race in shorts and T-shirts, but Las Vegas’s winter night temperatures require extra layers. The cold not only affects personnel but also the cars, influencing tire performance, grip levels, and overall handling. This edition investigates how the schedule update, favoring different timings, alters track conditions and what that means for car setup, especially the MCL39.
With Cédric’s input, the briefing explains what the new timetable implies for performance. It also delves into the challenges of running on a colder surface, including reduced grip and the risk of cold graining, and details how teams are adapting car configurations to address these factors.
“The cold doesn’t just affect the team, it impacts the cars too, and that’s largely what we’ll be exploring in this week’s edition of The Briefing.”
“The sessions aren’t expected to be as cold this year, but the updated schedule shifts timings, requiring fresh learning about how it will affect the MCL39.”
Author’s note: The Las Vegas round emphasizes strategic adjustments to weather-driven grip and schedule shifts, with a focus on how teams optimize performance under night-time, cooler conditions.